Something to do with tradition, I think

There is this thing- this intangible thing that always eludes- like a feeling, a sort of emotion I suppose it must be, though what it really is, I can't quite get hold of. It's something that's got a lot to do with culture and tradition and so I'll try to work from there.
We in India know a lot about culture and tradition. Much of it is inextricably linked with Religion in our minds, and also with Society and the Community and other such things, and we know all these things are somehow quite important, because, as Tevye, with some inkling of truth, once said- 'Because of our traditions, we know who we are and what we are to do'. Or something like that, anyway. So these are things that take us from our blind wanderings and put us somewhere- in a line, say, and when we place our hands on the shoulder of the person in front of us and feel the hand of the person behind us, and hear the shuffling feet of all the others both ahead and behind, you know you are somewhere, and there is still some reason in the chaotic world and you've got a definite something to depend on. So this framework of sorts that props us up, is held together by little rituals we perform and by the bonds that hold people together, in a group, depending on each other, and we pretend the reasons for this are many and varied, but it's just one- that we need other people. But for name's sake, we do it for Tradition.
But then, culture and tradition and all the rest of it is entirely dependent on what one is brought up to, what is familiar to one while one is still assimilating surroundings. It is all perception, nothing solid, and so it isn't absolute. Scientifically speaking, all the ideas related to this stuff are implanted in your head from when you're little so that as you grow, you accept it as inalienable truth, which it isn't. So it can change.
But when you are brought up to it, and then plunged into something different, then what ? What do you do ? Do you hold on to your concepts, which may seem silly from these new perspectives, or do you let go of the deadweight and try to make yourself fit, finding out later that you've lost your anchor ? I suppose this is the choice people make when they move out of familiar places, and become pioneers, and all that kind of thing. When Indians go abroad, and what I will feel when I leave my home. What Gogol Ganguli felt, and so on. For that matter, even here, we lose ties to this structure all too often. We let go, and then we see no point going back, it feels so good to be free..... Who gives up Coke and hepness for mishti and a sari ? Hip- Hop and Dance- Pop- Rock for Rabindrasangeet? Let it go. There will always be some kooks who go that way. They'll keep alive the tradition. We lose ourselves and find ourselves, and lose ourselves again, weaving in and out of objects and people and places, because when you can't tie yourself to one thing, you're never tied by anything. Cut one chain, and you know how to cut all the rest. And you do.

It's awfully impractical, this. Without losing a communal identity, one could probably never find an original one, and nothing can be achieved while lugging deadweight around behind you. Deadweight like who your 4th cousin twice removed was and how he's related to the Prime Minister and the Great and Grand people your parents knew, and other things like that. The funny thing is, we have the courage to want to let it go, and not quite the courage to live without it. We have the courage to cut ourselves loose, but not the ability- call it tenacity if you like- to go on living without the regrets. Or do we ? Perhaps we're just always torn in two. The desire to be secure in something, and the rebellious feeling that pulls the other way.
I am this way. Maybe when I go further it will make more sense, and I will lean in one or other of the directions. Now, I'm getting stretched rather hard both ways.